'Cracked heads, slit throats' in African cattle feud

At least 20 people have been killed and dozens injured in fighting between farmers and traders at a cattle market in the Central African Republic.

The dispute centred on the ownership of cattle stolen by highway robbers over a week ago but later recovered from the bandits and brought to the market just outside Bangui.

"Twenty-two corpses have been brought to the morgue. This is only a provisional tally as the injured are still arriving," Joel Nganafei, an official at Bangui's community hospital, said.

Central African Republic is one of the poorest countries in the world despite its vast natural resources.

It has endured years of civil conflicts and banditry is rife.

Fernand Koumanda, head of a cattle breeders' association, said the fighting started when some traders at the market claimed that they owned 56 of the 174 beasts initially stolen, enraging some cattle farmers.

Minister for social affairs, Bernadette Sayo, says she has never seen anything like it.

Free trade is the oldest argument in federal politics and the issue that literally defined the federation era but opposition exists to the TPP, courtesy of the Investor-State Dispute Resolutions clause.